Mumbai barge into 44th Ranji final

Day 6 of the Ranji Trophy Semi final between Services and Mumbai, at the Palam grounds in Delhi, started with a lot of possibilities. Services were 164 for 3, with captain Soumya Swain and former captain Yashpal Singh looking in fine form. With 98 overs possible on a bright day, a score of 291 more was not impossible. Yes, it would have been an upset, but it was not impossible. There was also a slim chance of Services playing out the 98 overs without really going for the target, and leave the fate to a spin of coin.

Those remained possibilities though, as Mumbai made light work of the Services middle and lower order and barged into their 44th final in Ranji Trophy history. Mumbai got the remaining 7 wickets in the day in under a session and took only 34.4 overs to finish the job as Services were all out for 240, 214 runs short of Mumbai's total.

The first hour of the morning was always going to be the key time for both the teams. A lot depended on the overnight pair - Swain and Yashpal - and they started off decently. Yashpal went past his fifty while Swain continued to look solid and elegant. However, Mumbai always knew that it was just a matter of one wicket and they got that when Shardul Thakur induced an edge off Yashpal Singh to the wicket-keeper, ending the 114 run partnership. Yashpal had fought valiantly, but his team needed much more than 58 from him.

Services' hopes faded but they still were not out of the game - Swain was still in the middle and he was joined by Services' highest run scorer for the season - Rajat Paliwal. But even that glimmer of hope faded when Swain edged left arm spinner Dhabolkar to Jaffer at slip. Swain's batting was elegant and beautiful while it lasted - he had battled for 233 minutes in the middle for his 74 - but it was not good enough against a disciplined Mumbai attack.

The last nail in the coffin was hammered in when Paliwal chopped one to the stumps off the bowling of Dhawal Kulkarni for 11. It was only a matter of time after that. Avishek Sinha and Sarabjit Singh delayed the inevitable with a few shots but once the new ball was taken in the 83rd over, Services' lower order was derailed. Dhawal Kulkarni bowled with decent pace, extracted bounce with the new cherry and was too good for the tailenders with his swing. He got four of the last five wickets to fall in the day, and helped himself to a 5 wicket haul. Ajit Agarkar was named Man of the Match for his knock of 145, which rescued Mumbai from a precarious position. The captain's knock ultimately made the difference.

Mumbai will now face Saurashtra in the final at Mumbai, starting from 26th of this month. Agarkar said that he was looking forward to it, and added that they were not going to take any team lightly.

"I have played six Ranji Trophy finals and Mumbai have won all of them. Saurashtra are a very good team even without Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja. They have defeated Punjab, which had performed brilliantly in the tournament, in the semi-final. Any team which reaches the final after crossing 9 games has to be a good team"

Agarkar said that he didn't expect Rohit Sharma to be released. "They haven't released him for the semi-final, so why will they (release him for the final)? He's playing for India, which is a big thing."

As for the Services, there was a visible disappointment in the camp after the loss. While it would have only been an upset had they won, the fact that they were disappointed showed that they considered themselves much more than just competitors. Deepak Bhaskar, the team's manager, said that he was happy with the team's performance "till yesterday", but was disappointed that his side couldn't put up a better fight today.

The skipper Swain was a disappointed man too but looked at the positives "this season will make a big change for us. It's the start of something big. We'll play the bigger teams in the next season so we'll only improve."

After the match, Sachin Tendulkar went to the Services' dressing room and had a few words of encouragement for the team. When queried about it, Swain said "Tendulkar told us that it was no fluke that we entered the semi-final. He was impressed with our performances and said that we will get better in the seasons to come"